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Saturday, December 14, 2013

How To Run A Meeting Like A Pro

Meetings are an unavoidable part of the professional world
and college life. Most of the time meetings can be somewhat productive, others
drag on with uninspired talk and few conclusions reached.

The key to having more productive meetings lies in careful
planning and some guidelines. This can make or break your meeting.

Ban all electronic devices from
note taking. Apart from the person keeping minutes, no one should have a screen
to hide behind. All too often I see someone in a meeting with his or her phone
hidden under the desk checking some e-mail or Instagram post that just couldn’t
wait. Warn the group to keep their phones away and provide pen and paper when
needed. The less distractions the better the productivity of the meeting.

Plan the meeting with actionable
steps in mind. All too often people leave meeting thinking they just wasted an
hour of their life or thinking that they could of just handled this group
project over e-mail which leads to miscommunication and missed deadlines.
Ensure that everyone in the meeting has something to do as a result of the
meeting and recount what was done at the end of the meeting.

Keep an eye on the clock. Keep
track of how much time is spent on one subject at a time. Having time
constraints creates a sense of urgency and purpose to the meeting. Keep moving.
Start on time and end on time.

Have a solid to-do list and make
it visible for all in the room. Keep the agenda short and if you can’t come up
with any solid decisions that need to be made, cancel the meeting.

Reoccurring meetings should be
short and highly structured to avoid the “business as usual” atmosphere. No
meeting should be exactly the same.

Write up the minutes of the
meetings and e-mail out action items. Appoint someone to keep track of who’s
responsible for doing what and by when. This helps people understand that the
end of the meeting signals the start of taking action.

These tips are great for a traditional boardroom meeting. If
you’re feeling bold, hold a walking meeting to a park or an open and quiet
space. This can be a good way to bring energy to an important discussion.

All and all, keep organized and always have purpose to any
meeting you attend or host.